Phil Jackson is free to look for another job. Dennis Rodman can't afford to get hurt or suspended.
So sayeth their contracts, according to the Chicago Tribune.Jackson and Rodman both signed one-year contracts with the Chicago Bulls last summer, and some of the fine print is beginning to make its way into newsprint.
When Jackson was negotiating his contract, he insisted that owner Jerry Reinsdorf include a clause allowing him to contact other teams about jobs before this season is over.
So when Denver Nuggets coach Bernie Bickerstaff was replaced by Dick Motta on Tuesday, there was immediate speculation that the 65-year-old Motta will be a stopgap until Jackson comes aboard next season.
Jackson may desire a job in the Western Conference closer to his home in Montana. The Nuggets job would also allow him to be closer to his daughter, a student at the University of Colorado. And the corporate owners of the Nuggets and NHL Colorado Avalanche could afford to pay Jackson enough to put him in the Pat Riley salary range.
Also, with the Nuggets set to have $20 million of salary cap room available after the 1997-98 season, Jackson would be able to rebuild the team as he sees fit.
Rodman, on the other hand, agreed to a clause that Reinsdorf wanted.
The Bulls filled Rodman's contract with penalties for missed games. Should he play fewer than 80 games, he would lose several hundred thousand dollars - and the penalties escalate from there.
Due to injuries and suspensions, Rodman hasn't played a full 82-game schedule since 1991-92.
MORE BULLS: Michael Jordan also signed a one-year contract last summer, and he has been coy regarding his plans for the future.
"I don't know if I want to go through one of those farewell tours," Jordan said. "When it's time, I just want to be able to walk away."
Maybe he'll walk further into an acting career. "Space Jam", in which Jordan co-stars with Bugs Bunny, grossed $48.3 million in its first two weeks and ranked No. 2 at the box office.
If the Bulls win the championship this year, it would be their fifth in seven years - and it could push Jordan into retirement again.
"That would be a storybook ending," Jordan said. "Kind of like a fairy tale. Hey, maybe that could be another movie."
As for Rodman, he issued a statement on his future while wearing pink suede shoes and a blue suede jacket after the Bulls played the Clippers in Los Angeles.
"If we win it again, I'll come back," Rodman said. "If we don't, I'm getting out. I've already made my mark in this game. I've got other things to do."
Rodman also took a shot at the NBA and a certain 7-foot center.
"The NBA is going to sell itself out like football and baseball," Rodman said. "I saw Shaquille O'Neal play the other night and they pay him $100 million and he still can't hit a free throw. That should tell you something."
ONLY A MOTTA OF TIME: Motta's promotion from assistant to head coach of the Nuggets came as no surprise to the Dallas Mavericks, the team Motta coached last season.
"Dick was a shoo-in to be the next head coach in Denver," Mavericks guard Derek Harper said. "When the season started, everyone contemplated that would happen. It was just a matter of when."
"Dick is the reason why I'm in the league, because he drafted me when I came out of college," Harper said. "So this couldn't have happened to a better person."
FALL FROM GRACE: On the same day the Nuggets promoted Motta, they made another, less-noticeable personnel move by waiving backup point guard Eric Murdock.
It was another in a line of setbacks for a player who just three years ago was a notch below All-Star level.
After leaving Providence as the career steals leader in NCAA Division I, Murdock improved over his first three NBA seasons. In 1993-94, he played all 82 games for the Milwaukee Bucks and averaged 15.3 points and 6.7 assists in 31 minutes.
His averages dipped the following season, and last year he had the ignominious distinction of being traded - along with another player, no less - for Benoit Benjamin.
The Vancouver Grizzlies renounced his rights over the summer and he signed with Denver as a free agent, but Motta had more faith in Utah reject Brooks Thompson as the backup to Mark Jackson.
The day Murdock was waived, Thompson had career-highs of 26 points and six 3-pointers against Phoenix.
BACK FROM BRINK: Just two weeks ago, there was talk that Muggsy Bogues, one of the original members of the Charlotte Hornets, was finished.
Surgery on his chronically sore left knee - "bone scraping bone" was the way one team official put it - didn't alleviate the pain and Bogues, 31, missed six consecutive games after playing in the first two of the season.
Bogues turned to acupuncture as a last resort, and it has helped enough to get the 5-foot-3 guard back on the court.
He even played in back-to-back games this week and burned the Sonics for 10 points, 12 assists and four steals Tuesday as Charlotte defeated Seattle.
MISCELLANEOUS LEADERS: A few categories you won't see on the usual league leaders list:
Minutes per game: Latrell Sprewell, Golden State, 43.1.
Assists-turnover ratio: B.J. Armstrong, Golden State, 4.09.
Steals-turnover ratio: Ron Harper, Chicago, 2.13.
Fouls per 48 minutes: Andrew DeClercq, Golden State, 12.3.
Personal fouls: Shawn Kemp, SuperSonics, 68.
Technical fouls, Charles Barkley, Houston, 8.